High School Football: North Penn earns come from behind win against Souderton

North Penn's Kyle Mayfield,23, is brought down by Souderton's Anthony Williams,34, for little gain during first half action of their contest at Souderton Area High School on Saturday November 3,2012. Photo by Mark C Psoras\The Reporter

FRANCONIA TWP — North Penn was held scoreless for more than three quarters and trailed a playoff-hungry team by 10 with only seven minutes to play.

But the Knights, like they have done so many times over the past decade, found a way to win.

“I would say it was our heart,” defensive back and running back Steve Gozur said of what made the difference in a climactic fourth quarter versus Souderton Area Saturday afternoon. “We knew it was our last game and we just came out all forces in that second half. (Quarterback) Mike (Berstecher) stepped up huge on that final drive. It was amazing.”

Berstecher’s 39-yard touchdown pass to Kyle Mayfield with 2 minutes and one second to play brought the Knights within 10-9 with the extra point to come. Along with the “heart” that Gozur alluded to, the Knights also had the guts, as North Penn instead went for two following Mayfield’s touchdown and speedster James DeSimone raced around the left end and found the corner to put North Penn ahead for the first time, 11-10.

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The Knights then recovered a Souderton fumble at their own 35 on the ensuing Big Red drive to lock up the 11-10 win and assure that even though North Penn had a rare playoff absence this season, the Knights still finished with a victory.

Souderton (6-4), needing a win to assure a District One Class 4A playoff spot, never trailed until DeSimone found the corner with only a couple minutes to play on this blustery day on the turf at Souderton.

“To be honest with you, if we hadn’t screwed up the field goal (on a blocked 26-yard attempt in the first quarter), we probably would have just kicked it,” said North Penn coach Dick Beck, whose Knights have finished with a winning record in all 11 of his seasons at the helm. “But I thought that play would hit. James made a great run. He made the guy miss, ran around him, and that’s why we put him in there. He’s got a lot of speed and I was very happy for him.”

Big Red linebacker Jarrett Reinhard, who had played a tremendous game for Souderton, was the last man standing in the way of DeSimone, and the running back was able to elude his tackle and run just inside the left pylon.

After a 26-yard field goal by Brandon Mandes had brought the Knights (6-4) within 10-3 earlier in the quarter, North Penn forced a three-and-out by Souderton and took over at its own 26.

Berstecher’s 18-yard strike to tight end Colton Pyne on third-and-15 kept the drive alive and a nine-yard run by Gozur moved the ball into Souderton territory.

The Berstecher-to-Pyne third-down magic continued, as the two hooked up on third-and-two to move it eight yards to the Big Red 42. After a three-yard run by Gozur, Mayfield popped open and Berstecher hit him in stride for the score.

“You could see when he caught the ball and knew he was going in, he was like ‘thank, God,’ because that play had been open and we missed it a couple times,” Beck said. “It was good to see us bounce back there.”

It was then time for the Knights’ defense, which had bottled up Souderton’s running attack for most of the afternoon.

Needing to move it quickly, quarterback A.J. Curotto went to work through the air and he completed three consecutive passes to his favorite target, Kyle Wenger, to move it to the North Penn 49.

Three plays later, on fourth-and-three at the Souderton 49, Curotto hit Wenger for a 16-yard gain but Wenger was stripped of the ball and North Penn recovered.

Souderton had built a 10-0 lead earlier in the game on a 28-yard field goal by Jeff Wolf in the first quarter and a two-yard run by Reinhard in the third. Big Red also had a 28-yard field goal blocked just before the half.

Remarkably, the Indians’ starting unit on defense was on its way to its fourth straight shutout until North Penn got things going in the fourth.

“We did pretty well covering them most of the game and we just kinda slipped up on one or two coverages down the stretch,” Big Red coach Ed Gallagher said. “That’s what you need to do to win the game, and their kids made the plays that they needed to make.”

“It’s a great way to finish it,” Beck said. “Obviously we’re disappointed that we’re not going on, but sometimes that’s the way it is. Three of the teams we lost to are a combined 36-3 and two of the losses are to each other. So we lost to some teams that had very good years.”